Volleyball: Holy Family sweeps Mead in top-tier Tri-Valley matchup

Tigers gear up for final stretch with clean win

BROOMFIELD — The Holy Family student section made sure on Tuesday night that the little rubber ducks handed out for a promotional game during their home volleyball match were heard loud and clear.

As for the Tigers on the court, their Tri-Valley League game against Mead couldn't have been more squeaky clean.

With just two tough league matches left before the new addition of a TVL tournament to end the season, Holy Family kept rolling through the competition on its home floor, sweeping a well-rounded Mavericks team 3-0 to run its win streak to five matches.

The Tigers fought through a solid Mead block put up by senior middle Abbey Glynn and freshman outside hitter Quincey Coyle, securing its fourth consecutive sweep with a multi-faceted attack helped along by their efficient serve-receive that coach Krista Solomon knew would make a big difference in the outcome.

"We feel like we prepared a lot for this week, really, but tonight it was about us cleaning up some of the errors we've been struggling with lately, especially defensively to give us as many opportunities as possible to hit," Solomon said after the 25-18, 25-22, 25-17 win that put Holy Family at 6-0 in the TVL and 10-4 overall. "They're a good serving team, and we knew that, so we felt if we could hit off their serve as much as possible we'd give them a run for their money.

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"We wanted to go out and be decisive in our effort."

On senior night for Holy Family, which also served as a "pink out" night for breast cancer awareness, the Tigers got the ultimate effort from their whole team — a squad that is still young with just three soon-to-be-graduates.

While senior Ali Travis led all players with 10 kills, the combined attack from juniors Rileigh Lynch and Biana Eldridge and freshman Anna Hodell kept the Mavericks from being able to hone in on one strong side.

Mead celebrates afters scoring a point in Tuesday's Tri-Valley League showdown at Holy Family. Go to BoCoPreps.com for more photos. (Matthew Jonas / Staff Photographer)

Hodell posted eight kills but seemed to come up with some big hits at the right time, and her emergence has been noted by team members across the board since she moved to the outside from the middle earlier in the season.

She got going early in game one, was a big part of a late seven-point run in game two and then had three of the team's 13 put-away shots in the clincher. Hodell now has 111 kills on the season, second on the team to Travis (221).

"Anna can jump out of the gym, and we just realized that she'd be really useful to us on the outside, and she's shown a confidence that you just don't see a lot in freshmen," said setter Carly Trostel, who had 33 assists on the night. "We try to push her to be her best out there, and she's doing amazing. It's fun to have multiple options and run a ton of different plays."

"Anna has gone full-time outside ... and that's something we feel we've worked out," Solomon said. "She's a great athlete, smart and she's young which is great. It's huge that she has Ali to mentor her, too. It's a great spot for her to be in."

Mead, which still sat in the No. 3 in Class 4A RPI before Tuesday and likely won't drop much even with the loss, snapped a four-match win streak of its own and fell to 10-3 overall and 4-2 in league.

The Mavericks hit .154 with hitting errors a big factor in falling behind big in games one and three. In those sets, MHS fell behind 19-8 at one point (set one) and 17-9 (set three).

In addition to five total blocks, Coyle added six kills and 14 digs, and the Mavericks also had some good moments up front for Brenley Bruxvoort and Morgan Munro as they combined for 15 more kills. However, coach Julianne Mosebar said that the mistakes were just too much to overcome against such a strong team.

"Holy Family played an exceptional match and it came down to our unforced errors, in serve-receive and on offense, all the way around tonight," Mosebar said. "We're going to figure out some strategies that are going to help us out a little bit more because now is the most important time of the season.

"We need to forget about who is across the net and cleaning up our side. Being as disciplined as possible."

Both teams are back in action Thursday, with Mead hosting Skyline and Holy Family traveling to Windsor.

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